Youth leads in Ikaros Open 2012

In the following positions we have the 20-years old Hungarian GM Peter Prohaszka, the Finnish IM Miika Maki-Uuro, the Ukrainian IM Ihor Nester, the Greek WGM Anna-Maria Botsari, the FIDE masters Stathis Gazis and Sotiris Malikentzos, the national masters Kleanthis Vafiadis, Giorgos Nikolaou and Stavros Lazaridis and the Ikarian candidate master Alexandros Koukoufikis, all with 3,5 points.

We also find a lot of young players up to 20 years at the next positions of the ranking list, but this is to be expected since, this year, for the first time during the 35 years of “Ikaros” Chess Tournament, the percentage of the young players up to 20 years of age exceeds 50% (68 out of 134 participants)!

The youngest ones (6 years old!) are Sofia Georgitsi and Tuure Maki-Uuro, while there are 8 more children up to 10 years of age!

The people behind the tournament

Every successful tournament, like this year’s one, is based upon a team of people who work creatively and constructively in the background. These people are the tournament directors Michalis Venios and Dimitris Skyrianoglou, the arbiters Ulysses Vazelakis, Antra Cimina, Evgenia Zevgiti, Kostas Halioris, Periklis Geropappas and Michalis Keramiotis, and the secretariat duo Dimitris Kapagiannidis and Antzela Shiaka.

Especially valuable for the tournament was the support of Dimitris Sotiropoulos (http://www.moebius.gr), who, apart from his innovative proposals, designed the poster, the shirts of “Ikaros” 2012 and the logo of Ikaria Chess Club.

The main sponsor of “Ikaros” 2012 is ANEK Lines (http://www.anek.gr), while major supporters are the Greek Chess Federation (http://www.chessfed.gr), the Cultural Club “Ioannis Melas”, the chess department of Panellinios G.S. (its curator, Petros Kolyvas remains one of the most earnest supporters of all Ikarian chess activities), together with many other members of the Greek chess community.

The greatest support, however, came once again from the Municipality of Ikaria (http://www.dimosikarias.gr). The mayor Christos Stavrinadis, the vice-mayors Alexandros Skaros and Giorgos Kritikos, the head of cultural and sports events Stratos Lakios together with Maria Kypreou all showed personal interest for the tournament and helped for its success.